Imprisoned II: Sacrifice

Chapter 1

It was 12:32 AM, and William Dunbar was sleeping soundly in his bed dreaming of Yumi. Suddenly he sat up, wide awake. Ulrich. Ulrich had also been in William's dreams lately. Whenever William dreamed about Yumi, Ulrich always seemed to suddenly appear out of nowhere, causing William to wake up in a cold sweat. Oh, how William despised Ulrich. William knew that Yumi liked Ulrich, and it bugged him that she and Ulrich never seemed to do anything about it. William laid his head back unto his pillow as he thought: I can't do anything about it right now. I need to get some sleep. Maybe I'll talk to Yumi tomorrow. William closed his eyes and slept until morning.

In the morning, Yumi arrived as usual she headed towards the vending machines. Nobody was there. Oh, I'm early for a change, she thought. Or, everyone is just late. Yumi chuckled and bought herself a cup of hot chocolate. She noticed William was standing next to a tree, staring at her. Yumi blushed and quickly looked away as William began to walk in her direction.

"Hi, Yumi," said William softly. "Where are your friends?"

"Oh, they aren't here yet, they must be running late," said Yumi.

"Good, I wanted to talk to you."

"About what?"

"About us."

"Us? W-what do you mean?" Yumi began to feel uneasy.

William smiled. "I think you know what I mean. I was wondering, are you doing anything after school?"

"No, why?"

"I thought maybe we could do something together later."

"Like what?" Yumi could feel the color rising in her cheeks.

"Well, you know, see a movie or something."

"You mean, like a date?" Yumi's voice quivered as she said this.

"Yes, that's what I mean." William took hold of Yumi's right hand, and Yumi smiled. Her cheeks were very red now.

"I'd love to, but-"

"But what?" William interrupted her.

"I-I-"

"It's Ulrich, isn't it?"

Yumi placed her hand on top of William's, but quickly jerked both hands away. Ulrich was standing right behind William.

"Ulrich, it-it's not what it looks like!"

Ulrich just turned and headed for class. Yumi was about to say something when the bell rang. She turned and picked up her bag, and turned to back to face William. "We can talk about this later," she said. "We'd better get to class."

"Fair enough," said William quietly. He took Yumi's hand as they walked to class.

In Mrs. Hertz's class, Ulrich was having a hard time paying attention. He just gazed out the window. Yumi was on his mind. He remembered what William had said that day when he had made a fool of himself at the pool (Marabounta). William had said this: "Go and talk to Yumi, from the heart. Or else, I will." Had the time come? Had William done what he said he would do? Ulrich lost touch with reality.

"Ulrich? Ulrich!" said Mrs. Hertz.

Ulrich woke up from his daze. "Huh? What?"

"Since, you've been paying such great attention; could you please tell the class what Sir Isaac Newton discovered as a result of an apple hitting him on the head?"

"Uh, that it hurts?"

The class started to laugh, and Ulrich slouched in his chair, coving his face with a science book. Odd slapped Ulrich on the back and said, "Way to state the obvious, Ulrich!" Odd nearly fell out of his chair from laughing.

The bell rang, and the class instantly began to file out of the classroom.

Mrs. Hertz waved a piece of paper in the air. "Class, don't forget, there is a quiz tomorrow!" No one paid any attention to her.